keep art alive; art by Stella im Hultberg

Cover songs done well and songs that tell a story are big music loves of mine. Placebo’s take on Robert Palmer’s Johnny and Mary is a newly found favorite of mine; a cover that I prefer to the original, actually.

Mary reminds me of a character I am writing, so much so that this cover is getting slipped into the characters playlist right now. The lyric “Mary counts the walls, says she should be used to it” resonates the most to the character in question, and admittedly, with myself.

It reminds me of the people projects I have so often taken on in those I pick for lovers and partners. I am so often pulled towards the glow of artistic potential, and can almost not help but cling and proclaim that I am the one who can help them fulfill their dreams.

More than often my dreams have fallen to the wayside, and more than often I am the one left with resentment, or just left all-together. The danger of defining love as being needed is that when one is not needed any longer, abandonment will be soon to follow; and wouldn’t you know it, the fear of being abandoned is tied up so tightly with love equating to need, at least it has been with me, in my past.

Johnny and Mary :: Placebo